Caldwell County took its first step toward its first 7th District championship since 2007 by holding off Hopkins County Central 69-62 in semifinal action Monday night in Mortons Gap.
But now the Tigers face an even stiffer challenge — taking down Madisonville-North Hopkins in Thursday’s 6 p.m. championship game.
The Maroons are 25-5 and have won 18 straight games after routing Dawson Springs 96-38 in Monday’s first semifinal game.
Caldwell, now 18-9, got 31 points and eight rebounds from Derrin Boyd and never trailed against Hopkins Central (12-15). But the Tigers had to withstand some anxious moments late to advance to the district finale.
The Tigers led 15-9 after one quarter and went up by as much as 13 in the second period before getting to halftime with a 34-23 advantage.
Hopkins Central got as close as 36-32 midway through the third quarter. But the Tigers weathered that storm, getting 3-pointers from John Davis and Boyd while going up 48-36 through three quarters.
Caldwell seemed to have things well in hand when Adarius Riley hit two free throws with 4:16 left in the game. That gave the Tigers a 17-point cushion at 60-43.
But Hopkins Central battled back. Tylan Mann’s 3-pointer with 2:01 to go trimmed Caldwell’s lead to 62-56.
A 3 from Blasin Moore had the Storm within 66-62 with still 37 seconds to play.
But Boyd gave Caldwell some breathing room when he hit two free throws with 29 seconds to go.
Boyd made one of two charity tosses at the 0:17 mark to give Caldwell a 69-62 lead and push the Tigers not only into the district finals, but into next week’s 2nd Region tournament field as well.
Boyd netted 12 of his game-high total in the fourth quarter.
Davis added 12 points for Caldwell while Cayden Fraliex had 10 points. Adarius Riley had seven points off the bench for the Tigers while Jamarius Blaine had four points and seven rebounds.
Mann led Hopkins Central with 24 points. Moore finished with 14 while Adrian Stringer scored nine and Sam Almon had eight.
